Rutgers law students say N.J. high school officials ignored request for latest military recruitment practices

Star-Ledger file photoRutgers law professor Penny Venetis, right, seen in 2007, led a group of eight students at the Constitutional Litigation Clinic in updating a 2008 report. That paper had found most high schools in the Garden State don't do a good job of telling parents of their right to keep a child's contact information from military recruiters. Rutgers released a revised report this week without updated information.

NEWARK — Rutgers students got the cold shoulder from high schools when trying to update a report meant to help families make informed decisions about enlisting in the military, their professor said.

"We sent out letters to every single high school in the state, and we spent months following up, asking permission to enter, and nobody gave us access," said Penny Venetis, a clinical professor at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

Venetis led a group of eight students at the Constitutional Litigation Clinic in updating a 2008 report. That paper had found most high schools in the Garden State don’t do a good job of telling parents of their right to keep a child’s contact information from military recruiters.

The report urges schools boards and the state to adopt policies to ensure parents are told they can opt out of a provision in the No Child Left Behind Act. This requires schools receiving federal funding to provide 11th- and 12th-graders’ names, addresses and phone numbers to military recruiters.

Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman with the Department of Defense, said the information provided by schools makes it easier for recruiters to share the opportunities that come with serving in the military.

"In the general population, there are fewer people who have served in the military, and research shows that many people are not informed about military life and the benefits of this career option," she said.

Venetis said she’s organizing a summit in January with other advocates to look at legislative action they can pursue.

In the 2008 survey, students interviewed administrators, principals and guidance counselors at 48 high schools in 13 counties, she said. This time, there were just two takers: East Side High in Paterson and East Side High in Newark.

"That was not a significant enough group to see if there were any patterns," she said.

The earlier report found Bloomfield and Plainfield schools mailed the opt-out forms to students’ homes, but didn’t require the forms to be returned. Just 13 percent of parents in Plainfield returned the form. Plainfield High School has since tried a different method to get full participation: requiring parents to fill out the form at the time of registration.

"This year was much more effective," said interim Principal Otis Brown. Since he only recently returned to the Plainfield school as principal, Brown said he does not know about Rutgers reaching out.

Venetis said, "We say upfront it’s not an anti-military or anti-enlistment report," she said, adding the report talks of the benefits of joining the military through college ROTC programs. "The purpose of the report is to just let the public know about certain recruiting practices and all the money that goes in to recruiting and all the commercials that are really slick and can be really enticing but don’t give all the facts."

The 144-page report looks at marketing tactics employed by the Army, Navy, National Guard, Marines and Air Force, concluding that advertisements often don’t paint a full picture of military life by leaving out the dangers of war. Venetis said the clinic put the report together as a public service so that young people can be fully informed about the commitment they’re making.

"One should not enlist for the wrong reasons: just because they think it’s the only way to get a college education or it’s the only way to get ahead," she said.

"They should enlist because they want to fight for the United States."